1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stereoscopic image capturing apparatus and system for obtaining stereoscopic image information to be displayed on a display.
2. Related Art
A large number of cameras, movable cameras, or laser scans are used to acquire stereoscopic image information of an object having a depth. If a large number of cameras are used, then the picture quality is degraded by individual differences and installation precisions of respective cameras. In the movable cameras, dispersion among systems which drive the movable cameras poses a problem.
Therefore, a stereoscopic image capturing apparatus using stereo cameras is proposed (JP-A 10-224820). In the stereoscopic image capturing apparatus, multi-parallax image information is generated by performing interpolation.
Furthermore, a stereoscopic image capturing apparatus using a multi-camera array is proposed (JP-A 2007-286521). In the stereoscopic image capturing apparatus, it is not necessary to perform interpolation because a large number of cameras are used. Even if interpolation is performed, there is little degradation in the interpolated image because multi-parallax information obtained from multiple cameras can be utilized.
Furthermore, a stereoscopic image capturing apparatus using an IP (Integral Photography) system which uses a microlens array is known (JP-A 2006-304230). In this stereoscopic image capturing apparatus, problems such as location deviations or individual differences of camera are not posed, because multi-parallax information is capture by one image sensor.
In the method (JP-A 10-224820), however, there is a feature to be considered that a multi-parallax image having a high picture quality cannot be generated because of a cause such as occlusion. In the method (JP-A 2007-286521), there is a feature to be considered that picture quality degradation is caused by location deviations between cameras, and in addition a problem is caused in processing cost or transmission band because of an increased data quantity. In the method (JP-A 2006-304230), resolution degradation is caused because parallax is assigned by using one image sensor.